Main content

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a teaching practice that enhances students and faculty engagement in international virtual collaboration. Through COIL, students gain direct experience in transcultural, intercultural, linguistic, and/or critical thinking collaboration from their home institution with peers abroad. COIL approaches internationalizing the learning experience in online, hybrid, and in-person courses, and collaborations may occur in the same discipline or across disciplines.  

COIL at Emory

The Emory College COIL Incubator is a hands-on teaching workshop to support permanent ECAS faculty as they develop or retool a course that includes an international collaborative component. Over several weeks, instructors explore the main theories of virtual exchange pedagogy, techniques, tools, challenges of virtual exchange, and collaboration and partnering network opportunities. Faculty participating in the incubator work with instructional designers to develop plans and a syllabus for their own COIL course.

Examples of COIL courses include: 

  • Language courses that integrate international conversation partnerships 
  • Upper-level courses in which students collaborate with international peers on a research project  
  • Courses in which students learn from and support the work of international practitioners in their field 
  • Courses that broaden study abroad experiences through connection and collaboration prior to or upon return from an in-country experience 

COIL Requirements and Eligibility

The following requirements must be in place to be eligible for a COIL course: 

  • Permanent (teaching and tenure track) Emory College faculty members from any field. 
  • Department is supportive of offering the proposed course during the upcoming academic year. 
  • Proposed courses may be taught primarily in person or online, but all will include a collaborative online international element. 

 

If you are interested in developing a COIL course, please reach out to the Emory College Learning Design Team.